Narglepuff the Protector

So, I'm new to this topic. Hi, everyone. If I remember correctly, wasn't a big argument against having more female characters in Bionicle the fact that the line was meant to appeal to little boys? Why all of a sudden do members with similar views want female sets with "feminine" proportions? Sounds contradictory to me.

Not finding a balance between an engaging storyline filled with wonder and mystery and an overly-simplified, childish one that insults peoples' intelligence. I'm happy that it doesn't seem like they're going to let the story get needlessly complicated, but I'm afraid of things getting a bit too Hero Factory in here.

Got a few: Elements are no longer exclusive to certain gendersLess giant, evil organizations vying for control of whateverNo dimension hoppingLess things to do with planets and universes and more islands for exploring as the years go by

In general I like the new story, and I've been for a reboot since the first leaks. It's the best way to get a new generation of fans to like Bionicle IMO. The changes overall are fine, but I'm going to miss some things like the Koros, the Matoran, and some terms that are most likely going to be dropped.

Bionicle 2015 needed to be a reboot. I'm sure my 6 year old self would be more than satisfied. My only complaint would be that some things feel a bit dumbed down, but it really isn't that big of a deal.

How hot is it getting in this room would you say? I think I would just dip.

Seeing them all laid out like this made it hard to pick for some reason. I picked the Metru build as my favorite. They had gears as well as elbows and knees! Least favorite is the Stars' build. Hard to pose, very few pieces.

People have all these expectations for remakes/reboots/revivals of their favorite things. Some people here want to experience 2001 again when we've seen that already, and some want to continue the pretentiously serious, convoluted story of Bionicle's last years. These people are going to be let down when Lego inevitably fails to please everyone. This is the biggest problem with Bionicle coming back now. We've got to remember that Bionicle isn't just for us anymore. Yes, Lego wouldn't be bringing it back if they didn't think there were any old fans left, but many of the people who liked it in the past don't care anymore. Lego needs to focus on a new audience. It's going to be different, so hopefully it doesn't get that much hate for that. That said, if it sucks, it sucks. What are you gonna do? Besides that happening I think this place will be fine. If Bionicle takes off again, it'll just a be a little bit louder around here. I wonder if new members will be into pixel comics.

Nuke the front page and start over. Make it look like it belongs in this decade. Other than that, I think we're good.

I liked Gresh the most, with Tahu close behind. Overall, I think the Stars were too basic for them to be Bionicle's final line of sets. It didn't help that they weren't very poseable. Maybe the two robots as titans would have been better? Or maybe a remake of Tahu Mata with new pieces and better articulation...

How could they possibly make characters that represent racial or ethnic groups when Bionicle characters look nothing like people? That makes no sense. The only thing Bionicle can use in terms of representation is gender, since gender is a thing in that world. I don't think you can compare race and gender in this context, and that's why your opinion had such a poor reception.

Reboot It makes little sense to go back to a convoluted storyline when you're trying to attract new fans. Though, of course, it wouldn't be hard to set the new story far enough into the future that only the most important aspects of the old story would remain relevant.

Hmm. I was about to agree with the whole "young boys may not buy toys from a series with many female characters." Reznas does bring up a good point about fans not attributing gender to the characters. I do remember having friends who had tons of sets but ignored the story, for the most part. Even if it was true, that female characters/sets wouldn't appeal to boys as much, there has to be another way to appeal to the target audience while keeping diversity. I guess this is where the set designers earn their money? A kid probably isn't going to care what gender the character is if the set looks cool.

Bro, you're wrong because he proved that you were wrong. And how can people turn Bionicle into a feminist argument? If you want to see how, this is what I, and many others, have been doing all along. Except if you're asking, "why is there feminisms in my bonkles", then all I can say is deal with it. People aren't going to ignore what they see as problems with anything, and I am inclined to agree with them because of their logic and reasoning.

Isn't that an opinion too, that opinions can't be right or wrong? Besides, opinions can at least be good or bad depending on how justified they are. If it's ok to ask, why do you hold the opinion that the gender issue isn't important with regards to either Bionicle or in general?Its a fact. Opinions and facts are two different things. Opinions can be politically incorrect but not flat out wrong. But opinions that are supported by facts can create a stronger argument.

Isn't that an opinion too, that opinions can't be right or wrong? Besides, opinions can at least be good or bad depending on how justified they are. If it's ok to ask, why do you hold the opinion that the gender issue isn't important with regards to either Bionicle or in general?

Um... well, we're all fans of this toy line, and some of us would like to see it be as good as it could possibly be! I mean will it make or break Bionicle's story and sets for me? Not really. I don't even think Lego would change the ratio that much if they ever would. Maybe 2 female characters per 6 heroes? It could still make for more interesting characters though, and that's always good. Literature and various forms of media have been saturated with various, well-developed male characters. How many significant male characters of anything can you name from Odysseus to Harry Potter? LOL I hope I haven't made any long-dead literary critic turn in their grave by comparing those two. Women have played similar roles in the vast majority of these works, such as healers and mother figures. That's why recently people have made a bigger deal about this and why it's all over this site now. Just because something is a non-issue for you doesn't mean that it is one for everyone else.

Well no, it's not teaching anything wrong to its fans, and I do somewhat agree with you on a quality over quantity approach to having female characters. However, the majority of Bionicle's major female characters all fit into the same one or two archetypes. Pretty much every toa of water that we've gotten as a set has played the "we need to be united!" role. The only one I can think of off the top of my head who broke this mold was Kiina, but once again the only chick represented the water element. Anyways, correct me if what I say next is wrong in any shape or form. I'm new-ish to this whole argument. I think the whole gender ratio problem has to do with being able to relate to the characters. Adding more female characters gives a lot more room for varied personalities among them. We all know that girls can be petty, hot-headed, determined, shy, lazy, smart, etc. By having a more even gender ratio you can give these different roles to females. So while Bionicle isn't purposefully toxic in terms of sexism, the story can certainly benefit from giving more exposure to the many, many character traits which do in fact exist in women. I can imagine there would be some sense of gratification for a girl fan of Bionicle to see more female characters with that kind of depth. The whole element restriction thing could be removed to help with this as well. I find it ironic that Lego decided all water/blue characters would be female, when the color blue is one of the most popular among boys. Wasn't their reasoning that boys wouldn't buy as many toys of female characters? I remember wanting a blue set that was a dude when I was younger. I'm sure any girl fans of Bionicle would've loved female sets in their favorite colors too.

Somehow I had ended up on the Custom Bionicle Wiki back in March of 2008. It was there that I found Toatapio Nuva's Comics: The Movie. Sure, it was just a Windows Movie Maker/MSPaint video, but I really appreciated the fact that one guy poured so much effort into making that movie. I looked for anything else like it and discovered the old Artwork III forum. This led to me wanting to make comics of my own, so I joined this site shortly after. I still have that movie file somewhere on my computer...

Things got messy QUICK. Um, is there even a convincing argument against fixing the gender ratios or sexist portions of the story?

I believe I got Jaller or Onepu (Mctoran), can't remember which or if I got both at the same time. My sister probably didn't want Onepu, so she gave it to me. Anyways I thought they were neat and the comic they came with (I think) got me into Bionicle for the first time.

Many people who are indifferent to or against recognizing the gender ratio problem say that boys (the target audience) are never going to buy female characters as sets. If those characters are as one dimensional as you described of course they aren't. I would totally dig female characters with some depth; that would be amazing. I'm sure others would too. Korra is popular right? MLP is popular right? It can work.

Guys, from what I can remember, Greg Farshtey had a hard time planning things ahead. A big reason for this was the fact that sets came first, and story came second every year. IIRC, 2009 was different because it was a movie year, so the story had to be planned out before they could think about the sets. Also, I agree with what Makaru just said about the serials. They felt really disjointed from the main story, and the yearly storyline could have survived without them. While I think Greg is pretty well suited for the Bionicle story, if he comes back to it, I hope Lego gets somebody to rein him in from time to time. This time around, the story needs focus and linearity.

A side story about how a character got their weapon doesn't really contribute much overall to the story. It's just distracting since it's another thing to keep track of. All of the serials had the characters spread everywhere uncovering one insignificant mystery after another. It's the reason we have all of these unresolved plots from 2011. Honestly a character like Takanuva should've been given a bigger role in the story instead of relegating him to serials; he hardly did anything between 2003 and 2008. I really don't think a new Bionicle story is going anywhere near those old plot points. While yes, it's a waste of 10 years of story in a way, Bionicle will only come back to attract a new generation. The people who remember the serials aren't the main focus anymore because many of them don't care about toys anymore. Taking the story somewhere like "The Kingdom" is going to leave new kids scratching their heads at whatever old references are made.